Deauthorization vote allowed under right-to-work legislation

EVANSVILLE - A vote on Friday will determine whether Casino Aztar's unionized employees can choose to withdraw from union membership before their current contract expires.

The vote involves United Auto Workers Local 3048, which has represented the casino's dealers since 2007. The members ratified their existing employment contract with Aztar in 2011.

All of Aztar's full-time and regular part-time dealers, and its dual rate dealers, are eligible to vote in Friday's secret-ballot election. Dual rate dealers are dealers who work some of the time as floor supervisors.

Friday's vote concerns what's known as the union security clause in the UAW/Aztar employment contract, said Pat Nachand, assistant regional director for the National Labor Relations Board Region 25 office in Indianapolis.

If an employment contract includes a union security clause, Nachand said, it means that employees who are members of that collective bargaining unit must join the union to keep their jobs.

Friday's vote is what's known as a deauthorization vote, Nachand said, because members will be voting on whether to keep their contract's union security clause or deauthorize it.

If a majority of eligible employees vote in favor of deauthorization, Nachand said, it means they will be able to withdraw their union membership — and stop paying union dues — while still keeping their Aztar jobs. A total of 147 Aztar employees are eligible to vote in Friday's election, Nachand said.

Gordon Jones of Evansville, a dual rate dealer at Aztar, was the one who did the legwork to bring this issue to a vote.

Jones said he's in favor of deauthorization because he doesn't feel he's getting anything for the $34 a month he pays in union dues.

"The union has not represented me in any way since they came in here. I feel like I've paid dues for nothing," Jones said Wednesday.

Local 3048 representatives could not be reached for comment, and a union attorney at the organization's Detroit headquarters did not return phone calls.

The union security clause was at the heart of the recent statewide debate over the issue commonly referred to as "right to work."

In March 2012, the Indiana Legislature passed legislation making it illegal to require employees to join a union or pay union dues as a condition of employment. In layman's terms, the legislation turned Indiana into a right-to-work state and outlawed union security clauses in employment contracts.

The legislation contained a grandfather clause for existing employment contracts.

"Any contracts already in effect were allowed to have that (union security clause) provision remain in them for the remainder of the contract," Nachand said.